LCD & SEMICONDUCTOR

LITRON LASERS FOR LCD & SEMICONDUCTOR

Lasers have been instrumental in allowing the manufacture of LCD and latterly LED panels of ever increasing size for use in televisions, computers, phones and tablets. Machine vision systems detect the presence of defects in a newly manufactured panel, while a laser is used selectively to repair defects via ablation or melting. These defects otherwise lead to ‘dead’ pixels, dark or light spots in a display that limit its usable size.

Laser lift off uses a pulsed laser to release a chip, such as an RFID chip from its substrate and such technology will help in reducing the cost of the chips so that one day, all items for retail sale can be fitted with one for a fully automated check out.

Cleaning applications include the use of pulsed Nd:YAG lasers to remove surplus silicon from photovoltaic panels and the creation of isolation channels between cells. This is enabling growth in the manufacture of photovoltaic panels to the point where many homes are now equipped with roof-mounted solar cells as an adjunct to electrical power from the grid. Indeed, many homes in sunnier climes actually return surplus electrical energy to the grid thus reducing pollution from power stations.

Nd:YAG lasers are also used in printed circuit board fabrication for precisely drilling holes to enable through-hole plating between the conductors in multi-layer boards.

Nd:YAG lasers and their readily available harmonics are widely used for marking identifiers on the wide variety of materials used in completed chips and circuit assemblies.